ALBANY -- Lajuana Woods, owner of L'Jua's restaurant on Radium Springs Road, said she is relieved to have the restaurant's doors finally open.

"It feels like the world has been lifted off of me," said Woods during the restaurant's grand opening and ribbon cutting Wednesday.

Woods is an ADICA board member who has been linked to the Don Buie situation for accepting a $50,000 facade grant that was to be used for downtown businesses. She has agreed to repay the money to ADICA.

Despite the negative attention the facade grant, Woods said she hopes the public will see the positive side of the situation.

"I have brought 50 new jobs to our area in desperate times," she said. "I hope people will look at this from a positive position. It was always my goal to give something and interesting to Albany."

Woods said L'Jua's enjoyed a successful soft opening last week.

"Surprisingly it has been busier than I expected," she said. "I am very pleased by the patron support."

Woods said L'Jua's will be serving breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the week and that customers can expect a fusion of different flavors.

"We have traditional American cuisine with a little added extras," she said. "At breakfast time we operate like an IHOP, at lunch we are more like an Applebee's and at dinner we make it more intimate and focus on fine dining with table cloths and dishes like filet mignon."

Woods said the restaurant has plans to keep the community engaged by having different activities for guest such as live jazz shows and theme days.

"My intent is to keep people coming through the door with new things," she said.